Aukai Ligairi is a Pasifika filmmaker of Fijian descent, raised in Hawai'i and the Western United States. He began making documentary films as a student at Utah Valley University, where he left school to follow a developing news story and was later honored with a Distinguished Alumni Award in the field of Journalism. Ligairi's debut feature-length documentary as a Producer/Director premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2009. He created his first television series in 2011 for National Geographic Channel. His subsequent work as a Director/Producer/Shooter has screened on digital platforms Max, Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, and Disney+. Most recently, he served as a Field Producer/Shooter on three seasons of the LIFE BELOW ZERO: FIRST ALASKANS—the first docuseries with an all-indigenous cast.

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ABOUT Aliah Irvine & Kēhau Kapua'a: Kūkulu

Follow Aliah and Kēhau as they take on the male-dominated practice of building Hawaiian hale, traditional thatched structures — a personal and political effort as they reclaim cultural traditions nearly lost to colonial erasure.

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Program Affiliation

In The Making Season 4

Cohort Year

2026

Instagram

@aukaiviti